Printer storage system



J. A. "sPENcER PRINTER STORAGE SYSTEM Filed Sept. 30. 1944 Jan. 7, .1947.

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 7, 1947 2,413,849 PRINTER sroimon SYSTEM James A. Spencer, Teaneck, N. J., assignor to Radio Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application September 30, 1944,, Serial No. 556,614

This invention relates to polar relay storage receiving systems for telegraph signals and is a division of my application filed December 4', 1943, Serial. No. 512,932;

In. my Patents 2,274,103, February 24, 15342, and 2,327,075, August 17, 1943, I disclosed systems for storing telegraph signals with relays of the nonpolar type and while these have been successful, a comparatively large number of relays is used and each relay controls a comparatively large number of contacts. This invention has been devised. as an improvement on those systems.

An object of the invention is to provide signal storage witha reduced number of relays and relay contacts.

Another object is to provide signal storage with polar type relays for. reducing the number of relays, as well as theynumber of contacts controlled thereby.

Other objects of the invention. will appear in the following description, reference being had to the drawing, in which the single figure of the drawing is a circuit diagram of the receiving system.

Referringtothe drawing, the receiving system is shown as adapted for seven-unit code signals,

but this isby way of example and it could be used for a code system of five or any other number of units.

The incoming line 25 is connected to one terminal of the coils of polar relay 2? and the other terminal of this relay is connected to ground, whichmay be-consideredas the negative terminal of the source of supply. One contact of this polar relay is also connected to ground through an appropriate resistance and the other terminal is connected through a resistance to the positive terminal. The tongue of relay 2'! is connected to solid signal ring 26, which i connected to the contacts of the segmented ring 29 by brush 36 in synchronism and phase with the brushes at the transmitter. The segmented ring 29 has fourteen contacts, so that this brush sweeps over two of the contacts for each one contact at the transmitter, which may, for example, be the one disclosed in my said parent application. Reference character a has been appended to the figures designating: the segments. These a segments are not, shown connected to electrical circuits, as they have no particular function in the operation of this improvement other than to indicate the relative time of connection of relays at the receiving station, as will later become apparent.

Segment No. l of ring 29'is connected to one terminal ofthecoil of polar. relay 31,. the other.

6 Claims. (Cl. 1'2'81'7.5)

terminal ofthis coil being connected to the positive and negative terminals of the source of supplythrough appropriate resistances. Segments 2- and 3 are connected through the coils ofpolar relays 32 and 33, respectively, to the positive and negative terminals through appropriate resistances. The tongues of relays 3|, 32 and 33': are connected. respectively through the first, second and: third relays of the printer as to ground The printer with its relays has been indicated only diagrammatically herein, but a description of such:

a printer may be found. in my said Patent 2,274,103.

Segments 4, 5 G and l of segmented ring 29' are. connected respectively through the coils of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh relays of the printer 3d to ground.

Local function ring 35 is connected to the positive terminal and this ring is connected by brush 3% with the fourteen segments in succession of segmented ring 31.. In this ring, segments I to l are not connected to any electrical circuits, but certain of the a segments are thus connected. The brush 36, of course, is mechanically connected to, or otherwise constructed to rotate in unison with the brush 3d, so that when. the. latter is on an a segment of a certain reference character, the former is on an a segment of a similar reference character.

Segment id of ring 37' is connected to the socalled' eighth pulse magnet of printer 3 3', its function, as. described in my said patent, being to start the operation of the printer after selection has been made by selection and operation of three of the. signal relays therein.

Segment 4a of segmented ring 31: is connected to the upper contact of relay 3! and segments to and 6a are connected respectively to similar contacts of relays 32 and 33. The lower contacts on these three relays are blank.

Theoperation of my inventionwill now be described:

Let it be assumed that the letter Y is to be transmitted. This, in accordance with the usual seven-unit code, consists of marl: signals in the first, third and sixth time positions and space signals. in the second, fourth, fifth and seventh time positions.

The current received over the incoming line 25 for the first signal unit, suitably amplified when desired,.energizes the receiving relay 2"! so that its: tongueis thrown againstthe positive contact. Current; then: flows from the positive terminal through this tongue, solid ring 28, brush fidsegment No. II- and. through. the. coilofl relay; 31. to.

U the negative terminal. The tongue of this relay is thrown to its upper contact, where it remains banked. The first received signal is thus stored.

When brushes 30 and 36 reach contact la on segmented rings 29 and 37 nothing happens at ring 29, but at ring 37 current flows from the positive terminal through the brush and segment la'to ground through eighth pulse relay R8. This starts the printing operation of the previous combination, which need not be described.

When the brushes first engage segments No. 2, a space signal is received and the current throws the tongue of relay 27 to the ground or minus contact and current fiows from the positive terminal through the coil of polar relay 32, segment 2, brush 3i) and ring 28 to ground. This throws the tongue of polar relay 32 to its blank contact.

When the brushes reach segments 20. nothing happens.

When segments No. 3 are reached, the current fiow throws the tongue of relay 21 to the positive contact. Current then flows through ring 28, brush 3!], segment 3 and the coil of relay 33 t the negative terminal, which throws its tongue to its upper contact.

When segments to are reached nothing happens.

When segments ii are first engaged, negative current flows from the transmitter station and the tongue of relay 2'! will be thrown to the ground contact by this space signal, This will not energize selector relay R4 of the printer 34 by engagement of the brush 3%] with the fourth segment, because both terminals are now grounded, This will cause a space selection at the printer.

When segments ea are reached, the stored signal of the first unit of the letter Y causes the first selector magnet at the printer to operate, because current will fiow from the positive terminal through ring 35, brush 36, segment 4a,

upper contact of polar relay 3| and selectorrelay Rl to ground.

When the brushes reach No. 5 segments, the incoming space current throws the tongue of 'relay 2'! to the ground contact and selector relay R5 will not be operated.

When the segments 5a of rings 29 and 3'! are reached, no current flows from ring 35, brush 36 and segment 5a of ring 31, because the tongue of relay 32 is engaging its blank contact through the storing of the second unit of the signal, which is a space. Therefore, the selector relay R2 is not operated.

When the brushes reach the 6th segments, 4

positive current flows through the coil of relay 2'! and this throws the tongue of this relay against its positive contact, which energizes selector relay R6.

When segments to are engaged by the brushes, nothing happens at segmented ring 29, but at segmented ring 3? current fiows from the positive terminal through ring 35, brush 36, segment 6a, upper contact of relay 33 to selector relay R3, which is energized.

When segments No. l are reached, a space signal will be received. This will throw the tongue of relay 2? to ground and selector relay R! will not be energized because both its terminals are at ground potential.

When the brushes reach segments la, nothing happens at either of the segmented rings, but the printer now has stored mark signals for the first, third and sixth units of the signal through operation of selector relays Rl, R3 and R6 and space t signals for the second, fourth, fifth and seventh units of the signal through non-operation of selector relays R2, R4, R5 and R1.

When the brushes leave segments No. 1 and engage segments No. I, a new combination for the next letter is set up, but this will not be described, as it will be sufficient to trace throu h the operation for the letter Y.

When he brushes reach segments la nothing happens at ring 29, but at ring 31 current fiows from the positive terminal through ring 35, brush 35, segment la and the eighth pulse relay R8 to ground. This starts the printing operation and letter Y will be printed from the selection made, as already described. Due to storage of the first, second and third signal of all characters, ample time is given for the printing operation, which can be completed before the receipt of the fourth impulse of the next character.

From the description given, it will be apparent how the signals are stored by the polar relays so that the signal units can be received, while permitting the operation of the printer. The operation for any succeeding characters will now be made clear and further description is unnecessary.

Various modifications may be made in my improvement without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a multi-unit signaling system, an incoming line, a distributor having a first segment for each signal unit of the code character and a second segment following each of a predetermined number of said first segments, means for conmeeting said first segments of said distributor in succession to said line, a relay having a switch tongue and a single live contact for storing each of the signal units of a code character from the beginning up to a predetermined signal unit thereof, the coil of each of said relays being connected to one of said first segments of said distributor and the live contact thereof connected to one of said second segments, a printer having a selector magnet for each signal unit of the code character, means for connecting each of the selector magnets for the stored signal units of a code character to a switch tongue of one of said relays and each of the selector magnets for the unstored signal units thereof to a segment of said distributor, means for supplying potential to said second segments in succession after the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit has been connected through a'segment of the distributor to said line and means for starting the printing of the character selected by said magnets before the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit of the next succeeding code character has been connected through its distributor segment to the line.

2. In a multi-unit signaling system, an incoming line, a distributor having a first segment for each signal unit of the code character and a second segment following each of a predetermined number of said first segments, means for connecting said first segments of said distributor in succession to said line, a relay having a switch tongue and a single live contact for storing each of the signal units of a code character from the beginning up to a predetermined signal unit thereof, the coil of each of said relays being connected to one of said first segments of said distributor, a printer having a selector magnet for each signal unit of the code character, means for connecting each of the selector magnets for the stored signal units of a code character to a switch tongue of one of said relays and each of the selector magnets for the unstored signal units thereof to a segment of said distributor, means for supplying potential to said second segments alternatively with the connection to line of the selector magnets for said predetermined and subsequent signal units and means for starting the printing of the character selected by said magnets before the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit of the next succeeding code character has been connected through its distributor segment to the incoming line.

3. In a multi-unit signaling system, an incoming line, a distributor havinga first segment for each signal unit of the code character and a second segment following each of a predetermined number of said first segments, means for connecting said first segments of said distributor in succession to said line, a polar relay having a switch tongue and a single live contact for stoning'each of the signal units of a code character from the beginning up to a predetermined signal unit thereof, the coil of each of said polar relays being connected to one of said first segments of said distributor, a printer having a selector ma gnet for each signal unit of the code character, means for connecting each of the selector magnets for the stored signal units of a code charac ter to a switch tongue of one of said polar relays and each of the selector magnets for the unstored signal units thereof to a segment of said distributor, means for supplying potential to said second segments after the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit has been connected through a segment of the distributor to said line and means for starting the printing of the character selected by said magnets before the selector magnet for said predetermined signa1 unit. of the neXt succeeding code character has been connected through its distributor segment to the line.

4. In a multi-unit signaling system, an incoming line, a distributor having a first segment for each signal unit of the code character and a second segment following each of a predetermined number of said first segments, means for connecting said first segments of said distributor in succession to said line, a polar relay having a switch tongue and a single live contact for storing each of the signal units of a code character from the beginning up to a predetermined signal unit thereof, the coil of each of said polar relays being connected to one of said first segments of said distributor, a printer having a selector magnet for each signal unit of the code character, means for connecting each of the selector magnets for the stored signal units of a code character to a switch tongue of one of said polar relays and each of the selector magnets for the unstored signal units thereof to a segment of said distributor, means for banking the switch tongues of said polar relays on their contacts when moved thereagainst, means for supplying potential to said second segments after the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit has been connected through a segment of the distributor to said line and means for starting the printing of the character selected by said magnets before the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit of the next succeeding code character has been connected through its distributor segment to the line.

5. In a multi-unit signaling system, an incoming line, a distributor having a first segment for each signal unit of the code character and a second segment following each of a predetermined number of said first segments, means for connecting said first segments of said distributor in succession to said line, a polar relay having a switch tongue and a single live contact for storing each of the signal units of a code character from the beginning up to a predetermined signal unit thereof, the coil of each of said polar relays being connected to one of said first segments of said distributor, a printer having a selector magnet for each signal unit of the code character, means for connecting each of the selector magnets for the stored signal units of a code character to a switch tongue of one of said polar relays and each of the selector magnets for the unstored signal units thereof to a segment of said distributor, means for banking the switch tongues cf said polar relays on their contacts when moved thereagainst, means for supplying potential to said second segments in succession after the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit has been connected through a segment of the distributor to said line and means for starting the printing of the character selected by said magnets before the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit of the next succeeding code character has been connected through its distributor segment to the line.

6. In a multi-unit signaling system, an incoming line, a distributor having a first segment for each signal unit of the code character and a second segment following each of a predetermined number of said first segments, means for connecting said first segments of said distributor in succession to sa d line, a relay having a switch tongue and a single live contact for storing each of the 5 signal units of a code character from the beginning up to a predetermined signal unit thereof, the coil of each of said relays being connected to one of said first segments of said distributor, a printer having a selector magnet for each signal unit of the code character, means for connecting each of the selector magnets for the stored signal units of a code character to a switch tongue of one of said relays'and each of the selector magr1ets for the unstored signal units thereof to a segment of said distributor, means for banking the switch tongues of said relays on their contacts when moved thereagainst, means for supplying" potential to said second segments alternatively with the connection to line of the selector magnets for said predetermined and subsequent signal units and means for starting the printing of the character selected by said magnets before the selector magnet for said predetermined signal unit of the next succeeding code character has been connected through its distributor segment to the incoming line.

JAMES A. SPENCER. 

